Today, electrical circuits can be manufactured at the nanometer level. Current manufacturing processes include the use of lithography to imprint microscopic circuits on semiconductor materials. Other processes use molecular materials such as nanotubes to fabricate tiny electric devices such as diodes or transistors. These molecular nanoelectronics are assembled using contacts and gaps on an atomic scale to form integrated electrical circuits and nanosensors. The small size of nanosensors results in reduced weight, low power requirements, and greater sensitivity. With the development of revolutionary fabrication techniques, nanosensors can now be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost using convenient and/or known methods.
Nanotechnology has far-reaching benefits spanning from physical and electro-sensors to chemical and biosensors. Industries affected by this technology range from security to transportation. In the security industry, discrete sensors are often desired in order to clandestinely monitor activities. The vast majority of sensors used today are large and easily visible, and have to be camouflaged to hide their position. Thus, it is often possible for criminals to avoid detection by locating the sensors and avoiding or disabling them. As a result, legal costs increase as more effort is needed to examine and produce sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction. In the transportation and insurance industries, a multitude of sensors recording data is the optimal technique for precise re-enactment of a traffic accident. Such data collection is not possible with currently-available sensors, because the placement of such sensors directly on the road would impede traffic flow. When the use of sensors is necessary, such as for the weight inspection of commercial cargo trucks, vehicles are forced to exit the freeway. Further, if placed in the freeway, the sensors would be subject to heavy wear and tear from the high volume of traffic.
The use of multiple discrete sensors could be used in a variety of other situations such as, by way of example, re-enactment of crime scenes, monitoring and control of pedestrian and automobile traffic, providing building safety and security, collecting data for demographic purposes, even providing aid in the creation of video games. This is only a small illustration of the benefits available from a device that detects data invisibly from virtually any position.
What is needed is a device that implements nanosensor technology to allow data to be detected inconspicuously and simultaneously from a multitude of unanticipated locations.